Written by: Brandon “Monkey” Imp
Ringleader, Lightning, and I descended Springer Mountain one year ago; five months and two days later, Ringleader and I ascended Mt. Katahdin. So much time. Such an investment. For the adventure. For the accomplishment. For the documentary. Clear-cut goals. Utilizing every moment over those months to get closer to the end. Every moment mattered. Now, how much time will I waste over the next year-and-a-half kicking in my office doorstopper? It’s trivial, and it’s really not that important. But I wonder, how much time will I waste turning it over, pushing it, kicking it, moving it with my foot? Time will be wasted. My life is a little different now.
My first on-trail blog post was entitled “My Story.” I laid the groundwork for the challenges in front of me: transitions. “Physically, I must get from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. In life, I must get from an academic-focused lifestyle to a career-oriented lifestyle.” Guess what? I DID IT. Woah!
Physically, I got from Georgia to Maine over five months and two days – 3/10/10-8/12/10. My legs did the walking. And I did it as part of the kickin’ team The Traveling Circus. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, who annually record the number of thru-hikers, recently published the 2010 statistics. 1,460 thru-hikers registered on Springer Mountain, but only 349 thru-hikers made it to Mt. Katahdin – 24%. Ringleader and I were 114 and 115.
In life, I got from the classrooms of Cornell University to the Moffitt-Long Hospital of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center after fourteen months – 12/22/09-2/22/11. As far as I can tell, my case is fairly fortunate. I am the youngest employee in my immediate group, and possibly one of the youngest Clinical Research Coordinators at UCSF. Yesterday we celebrated my 23rd birthday; having been on the job for only two weeks, I am still the floating newcomer with a largely untold history. One coworker thought I was joking when I said it was my 23rd birthday. “You are SO YOUNG!” she said. “I thought you were joking at first.” Nope, I am 23 years old, love my life, love my job, and going places.
So, I’ve made it. I have transitioned. I hiked the entire east coast. I flew across the country, settled into a new city with no job, no friends, no family, and little money. Over three months, I worked two jobs and an internship for 60+ hours per week and established myself with new friends and a new home. Finally, I sealed the deal with an incredible research position at UCSF. I DID IT. You are a rockstar, Monkey!
Today, one year from when The Traveling Circus set off from Springer Mountain, I feel pretty darn good. What’s next? I registered today for the first step of medical school applications.
Oh, the places you’ll go!
Fantastic post! Just for the record – the east coast is getting *drenched* today. Some places are getting 3-5 inches of rain. On the ride home from work, my carpool-mate and I were talking about the AT thru-hikers who are just starting off in this deluge. I hope they'll stick it out and be able to enjoy the feeling of achievement.
http://anatomy.ucsf.edu/nystullab/lab-members.html
Hey Monkey,
My son, Kevin Schoenfelder also works at UCSF in Todd Nystul's stem cell lab. Check out the link above.
Happy Anniversary!
iTrod
GA->ME 2010
Hi, i need to say great web-site you’ve got, i stumbled across it in AOL. Does you get significantly traffic?
Thanks for the compliment! We did receive a significant amount of traffic during our hike in 2010, which allowed us to share our experience with a lot of people. Now that the documentary is complete, we hope to use http://www.beautybeneaththedirt.com to market the film and educate the public on what an Appalachian Trail thru-hike is all about.
I recently squeeze web page link of the blog in my Facebook Wall structure. great web site indeed.
Thanks so much for the support!
Much appreciated for the information and share!
Nancy
Have you given any kind of thought at all with translating your main web page into Chinese? I know a couple of of translaters right here which might help you do it for free if you want to make contact with me personally.
If the film does well this year, and we get to take it abroad or bring it to a larger audience in the States – then yes, absolutely. That’s a great idea. We’ll keep you in mind for sure.